Friday, June 28, 2013

Former Stag O'Toole Moves to Stanford as Assistant

Former Fairfield player and head coach Tim O'Toole is back in college basketball as a full-fledged court assistant.

O'Toole, who had been away from the sport for six seasons after his dismissal by Fairfield in 2006 as eight seasons as the Stags' coach, was hired earlier this week as an assistant at Stanford.

O'Toole had returned to college hoops this past December when he became Syracuse's director of basketball operations, a position that is restrictive in terms of actual on-court coaching.

During O'Toole's six-year hiatus from coaching he had worked as a college basketball analyst for ESPN and SNY as well as working as a financial planner and motivational consultant.

As is often the case in basketball hirings, O'Toole's "connections" worked in his favor for the move to Stanford.

O'Toole knows Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins through their Duke connections. Dawkins is a former Duke standout and returned to Duke as an assistant coach. He and O'Toole were together on the Duke staff for several weeks before O'Toole moved on to become an assistant at Seton Hall.

"I'm very excited to have Tim join our staff and look forward to working with him," Dawkins said in a statement released by his school. "Tim brings a wealth of experience to our program, having served as a head coach and an assistant coach for several successful programs. He possesses an incredible passion for the game, and the ability to instantly connect with student-athletes he coaches. Tim's presence will greatly benefit everyone associated with our program."

O'Toole, now 49, was a scrappy standout swingman over four seasons in the mid-1980's at Fairfield.